Copenhagen summit urged to strike a deal

Euronews

Ministers taking part in climate talks in Copenhagen have been told to compromise or face the very real prospect of failure.

The high-level phase of the summit is now underway, but agreement on key issues such as CO2 emission cuts and climate finance has stalled.

Leaders are being urged to break the deadlock.

“In these very hours, success is still within reach. But as president of the COP, I must also warn you: we can fail,” COP15 President Connie Hedegaard said.

With more than 120 world leaders set to join the talks on Thursday the UN chief called on countries ‘not to falter in the home stretch.’

“The time for consensus has arrived. No one will get everything they want out of these negotiations, but if we work together, and acquire a deal, everyone will get what they need,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Despite those words the world’s two biggest polluters, the US and China, appear unlikely to revise their current offers to cut emissions.

So far America has pledged to reduce its CO2 levels by 3 percent by 2020 based on 1990 levels, where as China has linked its cuts to each unit of GDP in what it has uniquely termed reducing its ‘Carbon intensity.’